Devices, Methods, and Computer Programs for Detecting Potential Displacement of a Wireless Transceiver

1. A displacement detection server for detecting potential displacement of a wireless transceiver connected to a machine-to-machine device, the displacement detection server comprising: a receiver hardware apparatus for receiving an updated radio environment message, the updated radio environment message comprising information identifying updated radio characteristics of at least two radio cells, the updated characteristics being measured by the wireless transceiver; a processor configured to determine whether the updated radio characteristics of said at least two radio cells differ more than a certain predetermined amount from previous radio characteristics of a previous radio environment message from the wireless transceiver; and a transmitter hardware apparatus, wherein the displacement detection server is arranged to use the transmitter to send a displacement indication message to a device management server as a result of the processor determining that the updated radio characteristics differ more than the certain predetermined amount from the previous radio characteristics, the displacement indication message indicating potential displacement of the wireless transceiver, the displacement detection server is located remotely from the wireless transceiver, the information identifying updated radio characteristics of the at least two radio cells comprises a first set of received signal strength values, said first set of received signal strength values comprising a first received signal strength value based on a measured strength of a signal from a first cell and a second received signal strength value based on a measured strength of a signal from a second cell, the previous radio characteristics of said previous radio environment message comprises a second set of received signal strength values, said second set of received signal strength values comprising a third received signal strength value based on a measured strength of a signal from the first cell and a fourth received signal strength value based on a measured strength of a signal from the second cell, and the processor is configured to determine whether the updated radio characteristics of said at least two radio cells differ more than the certain predetermined amount from the previous radio characteristics of the previous radio environment message by determining whether the first set of received signal strength values differs more than the certain predetermined amount from the second set of received signal strength values.

2. The displacement detection server of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to determine whether the updated radio characteristics differ more than the certain predetermined amount from the previous radio characteristics by: i) generating a first numeric value using the first and second received signal strength values, and ii) determining whether the first numeric value differs more than the certain predetermined amount than a previously generated numeric value that was previously generated using information from the previous radio environment message.

3. The displacement detection server of claim 2 , wherein generating the first numeric value comprises forming an ordered set of received signal strength values, said ordered set comprising the first and second received signal strength value.

4. The displacement detection server of claim 2 , wherein generating the first numeric value comprises calculating a numerical value using the first and second received signal strength values.

5. The displacement detection server of claim 4 , wherein calculating the numerical value using the first and second received signal strength values comprises multiplying the first received signal strength value by a first weight value and multiplying the second received signal strength value by a second weight value.

6. A method for detecting potential displacement of a wireless transceiver connected to a machine-to-machine device, the method comprising the steps, executed in a displacement detection server, of: receiving, at the displacement detection server, an updated radio environment message from the wireless transceiver, the updated radio environment message comprising information identifying updated radio characteristics of at least two radio cells, the updated characteristics being measured by the wireless transceiver; determining, by the displacement detection server, whether the updated radio characteristics differ more than a certain predetermined amount from previous radio characteristics of a previous radio environment message from the wireless transceiver; and as a result of determining that radio characteristics differ more than the certain predetermined amount, the displacement detection server sending a displacement indication message to a device management server, the displacement indication message indicating potential displacement of the wireless transceiver, wherein the displacement detection server is located remotely from the wireless transceiver, the information identifying updated radio characteristics of the at least two radio cells comprises a first set of received signal strength values, said first set of received signal strength values comprising a first received signal strength value based on a measured strength of a signal from a first cell and a second received signal strength value based on a measured strength of a signal from a second cell, the previous radio characteristics of said previous radio environment message comprises a second set of received signal strength values, said second set of received signal strength values comprising a third received signal strength value based on a measured strength of a signal from the first cell and a fourth received signal strength value based on a measured strength of a signal from the second cell, and the step of determining whether the updated radio characteristics differ more than the certain predetermined amount from the previous radio characteristics comprises determining whether the first set of received signal strength values differs more than the certain predetermined amount from the second set of received signal strength values.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the updated radio environment message comprises radio characteristics of all radio cells available to the wireless transceiver.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the updated radio environment message comprises measurements of signal strength of all radio cells available to the wireless transceiver.

9. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the step of determining involves determining that the updated radio characteristics differ more than the certain predetermined amount from previous radio characteristics of a previous radio environment message from the wireless transceiver when a difference is persistent, as defined by radio characteristics differing from previous radio characteristics during a predetermined number of radio environment messages.

10. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the step of receiving receives the updated radio environment message as an initiative from the wireless transceiver.

11. The method according to claim 6 , further comprising the step of sending to the wireless transceiver a request message requesting the wireless transceiver to send the updated radio environment message, wherein the sending step is performed prior to the step of receiving the updated radio environment message.

12. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the step of determining involves calculating a difference using root mean square.

13. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for detecting potential displacement of a wireless transceiver connected to a machine-to-machine device, the computer program comprising computer program code which, when run on a displacement detection server located remotely from the wireless transceiver, causes the displacement detection server to: determine, in response to receiving from the wireless transceiver an updated radio environment message comprising information identifying updated radio characteristics of at least two radio cells measured by the wireless transceiver, whether the updated radio characteristics differ more than a certain predetermined amount from previous radio characteristics of a previous radio environment message from the wireless transceiver; and as a result of determining that radio characteristics differ more than the certain predetermined amount, send a displacement indication message to a device management server, the displacement indication message indicating potential displacement of the wireless transceiver, wherein the information identifying the updated radio characteristics of the at least two radio cells comprises a first set of received signal strength values, said first set of received signal strength values comprising a first received signal strength value based on a measured strength of a signal from a first cell and a second received signal strength value based on a measured strength of a signal from a second cell, the previous radio characteristics of said previous radio environment message comprises a second set of received signal strength values, said second set of received signal strength values comprising a third received signal strength value based on a measured strength of a signal from the first cell and a fourth received signal strength value based on a measured strength of a signal from the second cell, and the computer program is configured to cause the displacement server to determine whether the updated radio characteristics of said at least two radio cells differ more than the certain predetermined amount from the previous radio characteristics of the previous radio environment message by determining whether the first set of received signal strength values differs more than the certain predetermined amount from the second set of received signal strength values.

14. A host device for detecting potential displacement of a wireless transceiver connected to a machine-to-machine device, the host device comprising: the wireless transceiver; and a processor arranged to: at a first point in time, measure a received signal strength of a first signal for a first cell to produce a first received signal strength value, measure a received signal strength of a second signal for a second cell to produce a second received signal strength value, form a first set of numeric values using the first and second received signal strength values, at a second point in time, measure a received signal strength of a third signal for the first cell to produce a third received signal strength value, measure a received signal strength of a fourth signal for the second cell to produce a fourth received signal strength value, form a second set of numeric values using the third and fourth received signal strength values, and determine whether the first set of numeric values differs more than a certain predetermined amount from the second set of numeric values, wherein the processor is further arranged such that, as a result of determining that the first set of numeric values differs more than the certain predetermined amount from the second numeric values, the processor employs a transmitter to send a displacement indication message to a displacement detection server, the displacement indication message indicating potential displacement of the wireless transceiver.

15. The host device according to claim 14 , wherein the host device is the machine-to-machine device.

16. The host device according to claim 14 , wherein the host device is a machine-to-machine gateway, the machine-to-machine gateway being distinct from the machine-to-machine device.

17. A method for detecting potential displacement of a wireless transceiver connected to a machine-to-machine device, the method comprising the steps, executed in a host device comprising the wireless transceiver, of: measuring, by the host device, a received signal strength of a first signal for a first cell to produce a first received signal strength value; measuring, by the host device, a received signal strength of a second signal for a second cell to produce a second received signal strength value; forming a first set of numeric values using the first and second received signal strength values; measuring, by the host device, a received signal strength of a third signal for the first cell to produce a third received signal strength value; measuring, by the host device, a received signal strength of a fourth signal for the second cell to produce a fourth received signal strength value; forming a second set of numeric values using the third and fourth received signal strength values; determining, by the host device, whether the first set of numeric values differs more than a certain predetermined amount from the second set of numeric values; and as a result of determining that the first set of numeric values differs more than the certain predetermined from the second set of numeric values, the host device sending a displacement indication message to a displacement detection server, the displacement indication message indicating potential displacement of the wireless transceiver.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the step of measuring comprises measuring radio characteristics of all radio cells available to the wireless transceiver.

19. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the step of measuring comprises measuring signal strength of the radio cells.

20. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the determining step comprises: calculating a first numeric value using said first set of numeric values, calculating a second numeric value using said second set of numeric values, and determining whether the first calculated numeric value differs more than said certain predetermined amount from the second calculated numeric value.

21. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the step of determining involves the calculating a difference using root mean square.

22. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the step of measuring updated radio characteristics involves measuring radio cells of at least two separate mobile communication networks operated by two separate mobile network operators.

23. The method of claim 17 , wherein generating the first numeric value using the first and second received signal strength values comprises calculating a numerical value using the first and second received signal strength values, and determining whether the first numeric value differs more than the certain predetermined amount from the previously generated numeric value consists of determining whether the calculated numerical value differs more than the certain predetermined amount from a previously calculated numerical value.

24. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program for detecting potential displacement of a wireless transceiver connected to a machine-to-machine device, the computer program comprising computer program code which, when run on a host device, causes the host device to: measure a received signal strength of a first signal for a first cell to produce a first received signal strength value; measure a received signal strength of a second signal for a second cell to produce a second received signal strength value; form a first set of numeric values using the first and second received signal strength values; measure a received signal strength of a third signal for the first cell to produce a third received signal strength value; measure a received signal strength of a fourth signal for the second cell to produce a fourth received signal strength value; form a second set of numeric values using the third and fourth received signal strength values; determine whether the first set of numeric values differs more than a certain predetermined amount from the second set of numeric values; and as a result of determining that the first set of numeric values differs more than the certain predetermined amount from the second set of numeric values, send a displacement indication message to a displacement detection server, the displacement indication message indicating potential displacement of the wireless transceiver.